The Decline of Soaring Awards

On Wed, 25 Mar 2020 16:02:19 -0700, markmocho53 wrote:

Don't mean to be snarky, but western US
soaring conditions are exceptional.

Of course. However, as I said in a different post, the conditions where I
usually fly in Eastern UK or across into the Midlands are far more like
New England than western US conditions. Where I fly, 4-5 kts is good and
anything over 6 is exceptional.

In addition, almost everybody in my club will be flying a club glider for
Silver, so club rules apply, and I don't think our instructors would be
at all happy if a pre-Bronze pilot flew Silver duration outside local
soaring range of home, particularly given that said pre-Bronze pilot will
most unlikely to have done any field landing or navigation training yet.

Gold Hat: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I
don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!" (From the film, "Treasure
of the Sierra Madre," Alfonso Bedoya as "Gold Hat," 1948)

In the UK and Europe badges are useful. If you're visiting a new club and
want to fly, they'll want to know what badges and hours you have before
you take a check-ride/site familiarisationflight or there's any
discussion of what single seaters they'll let you fly.

There are fields here where I wouldn't WANT to fly without a check-ride
with winch cable breaks. Eden Soaring for instance:

54°41'55.61"N 2°34'59.36"W

This is a winch-only site. That co-ordinate is at the NE end of a stone
wall across the middle of the runway with a 50m gap in its centre. The
nearest working point of the ridge is 3km NE of the airfield. The picture
looks to have been made before flying started on a day when the wind is
at nearly 90 degrees to the run.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org